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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Chapter 1: Introduction

Character Creation

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Unless you're the GM, the first thing you need to do when playing Pathfinder is create your character. It's up to you to imagine your character's past experiences, personality, and worldview, and this will set the stage for your roleplaying during the game. You'll use the game's mechanics to determine your character's ability to perform various tasks and use special abilities during the game.

This section provides a step-by-step guide for creating a character using the Pathfinder rules, preceded by a guide to help you understand attribute modifiers. These modifiers are a critical part of your character, and you will be asked to make choices about them during many of the following steps. The steps of character creation are presented in a suggested order, but you can complete them in whatever order you prefer.

Many of the steps on pages 18–27 instruct you to fill out fields on your character sheet. The character sheet is shown on pages 22–23; you can find a copy in the back of this book or on paizo.com as a free PDF. The character sheet is designed to be easy to use when you're actually playing the game, but creating a character happens in a different order, so you'll move back and forth through the character sheet as you go through the character creation process. Additionally, the character sheet includes every field you might need, even though not all characters will have something to put in each field. If a field on your character sheet is not applicable to your character, you can just leave that field blank.

All the steps of character creation are detailed on the following pages; each is marked with a number that corresponds to the sample character sheet on pages 22–23, showing you where the information goes. If the field you need to fill out is on the third or fourth page of the character sheet, which aren't shown, the text will tell you.

If you're creating a higher-level character, it's a good idea to begin with the instructions here, then turn to page 29 for instructions on leveling up characters.

Overview

When you turn the page, you'll see a visual representation of ancestries and classes that provides at-a-glance information for players looking to make the most of their starting attribute modifiers. In the ancestries overview on page 20, each entry lists which attribute modifiers it boosts, and also indicates any attribute flaws the ancestry might have. You can find more about attribute boosts and flaws in Attribute Modifiers on page 19.

The summaries of the classes on page 21 list each class's key attribute—the attribute modifier used to calculate the potency of many of their class abilities. Characters receive an attribute boost in their key attribute when you choose their class. This summary also lists one or more secondary attribute modifiers important to members of that class.

A character's background also affects their attribute modifiers, though there's more flexibility in the attribute boosts from backgrounds than in those from classes. For descriptions of backgrounds, see pages 84–88.

The Six Attribute Modifiers

One of the most important aspects of your character is their attribute modifiers. These numbers represent your character's raw potential, and they influence nearly every other statistic on your character sheet. Determining your attribute modifiers is not done all at once, but instead happens over several steps during character creation.

Attribute modifiers are split into two main groups: physical and mental. Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are physical attribute modifiers, measuring your character's physical power, agility, and stamina. In contrast, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are mental attribute modifiers and measure your character's learned prowess, awareness, and force of personality.

Excellence in an attribute modifier improves the checks and statistics related to that ability, as described below. When imagining your character, you should also decide what attribute modifiers you want to focus on to give you the best chance at success.

Strength

Strength measures your character's physical power. Strength is important if your character plans to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Your Strength modifier gets added to melee damage rolls and determines how much your character can carry.

Dexterity

Dexterity measures your character's agility, balance, and reflexes. Dexterity is important if your character plans to make attacks with ranged weapons or use stealth to surprise foes. Your Dexterity modifier is also added to your character's AC and Reflex saving throws.

Constitution

Constitution measures your character's health and stamina. Constitution is important for all characters, especially those who fight in close range. Your Constitution modifier is added to your Hit Points and Fortitude saving throws.

Intelligence

Intelligence measures how well your character can learn and reason. A high Intelligence allows your character to analyze situations and understand patterns, and it means they can become trained in additional skills and might be able to master additional languages.

Wisdom

Wisdom measures your character's common sense, awareness, and intuition. High Wisdom helps your character detect hidden things and resist mental effects. Your Wisdom modifier is added to your Perception and Will saving throws.

Charisma

Charisma measures your character's personal magnetism and strength of personality. A high Charisma modifier helps you build relationships and influence the thoughts and moods of others with social skills.

Attribute Modifier Overview

Each attribute modifier starts at +0, representing the human average, but as you make character choices, you'll adjust these modifiers by applying attribute boosts, which increase an attribute modifier, and attribute flaws, which decrease an attribute modifier. As you build your character, remember to apply attribute modifier adjustments when making the following decisions.

Ancestry: Each ancestry provides attribute boosts, and sometimes an attribute flaw. If you are taking any voluntary flaws, apply them in this step (see the sidebar on page 24).

Background: Your character's background provides two attribute boosts.

Class: Your character's class applies an attribute boost to their key attribute: the attribute modifier most important for that class.

Four Free Boosts: After the other steps, you apply four more attribute boosts to attributes of your choice to finalize your starting attribute modifiers.

Attribute Boosts

An attribute boost normally increases an attribute modifier's value by 1. However, if the attribute modifier to which you're applying an attribute boost is already +4 or higher, instead mark “partial boost” on the character sheet for that attribute. If the attribute already has a partial boost invested in it, increase the modifier by 1 and uncheck the box. At 1st level, a character can never have any attribute modifier that's higher than +4.

When your character receives an attribute boost, the rules indicate whether it must be applied to a specific attribute modifier, to one of a limited list, or whether it is a “free” attribute boost that can be applied to any attribute modifier of your choice. Dwarves, for example, receive an attribute boost to their Constitution modifier and their Wisdom modifier, as well as one free attribute boost, which can be applied to any other attribute.

When you gain multiple attribute boosts at the same time, you must apply each one to a different modifier. This means you can't apply a partial boost to an attribute modifier and apply another boost simultaneously to increase it.

Attribute Flaws

Attribute flaws are not nearly as common in Pathfinder as attribute boosts. If your character has an attribute flaw—likely from their ancestry—you decrease that attribute modifier by 1.

Step 1: Create a Concept

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What sort of hero do you want to play? The answer to this question might be as simple as "a brave warrior," or as complicated as "the child of elven wanderers, raised in a city dominated by humans and devoted to Sarenrae, goddess of the sun." Consider your character's personality, sketch out a few details about their past, and think about how and why they adventure. You'll want to peruse Pathfinder's available ancestries, backgrounds, and classes. The summaries on pages 20–21 might help you match your concept with some of these basic rule elements. Before a game begins, it's also a good idea for the players to discuss how their characters might know each other and how they'll work together throughout the course of their adventures.

Each player takes a different approach to creating a character. Some want a character who will fit well into the story, while others look for a combination of abilities that complement each other mechanically. You might combine these two approaches. There is no wrong way!

Once you have a good idea of the character you'd like to play, move on to Step 2 to start building your character.

Ancestry, Background, Class, or Details

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If one of Pathfinder's character ancestries, backgrounds, or classes particularly intrigues you, it's easy to build a character concept around these options. The summaries of ancestries and classes on pages 20–21 give a brief overview of these options (full details appear in Chapters 2 and 3, respectively). Each ancestry also has several heritages that might refine your concept further, such as a gnome with a stronger connection to fey magic or one who comes from the underground, or an arctic or woodland elf. Some heritages, known as versatile heritages, can even be applied to any ancestry; for instance, mortals with divine influence can be born to any ancestry as nephilim. Additionally, the game has many backgrounds to choose from, representing your character's upbringing, their family's livelihood, or their earliest profession. Backgrounds are detailed later in Chapter 2, beginning on page 84.

Building a character around a specific ancestry, background, or class can be a fun way to interact with the world's lore. Would you like to build a typical member of your character's ancestry or class, as described in the relevant entry, or would you prefer to play a character who defies commonly held notions about their people? For example, you could play a dwarf with a wide-eyed sense of wonder and a zest for change, or a performing rogue capable of amazing acrobatic feats but with little interest in sneaking about.

You can draw your concept from any aspect of a character's details. You can use roleplaying to challenge not only the norms of Pathfinder's fictional world but even real-life societal norms. Your character might challenge gender notions, explore cultural identity, have a disability, or any combination of these suggestions. Your character can live any life you see fit.

Faith

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Perhaps you'd like to play a character who is a devout follower of a specific deity. Pathfinder is a rich world with myriad faiths and philosophies spanning a wide pantheon, from Cayden Cailean, the Drunken Hero of good-hearted adventuring; to Desna, the Song of Spheres and goddess of dreaming and the stars; to Iomedae, the Inheritor, goddess of honor, justice, and rulership. Pathfinder's major deities appear on pages 35–39. Your character might be so drawn to a particular faith that you decide they should be a cleric of that deity; they might instead be a lay worshipper who applies their faith's teachings to daily life, or simply the child of devout parents.

Your Allies

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You might want to coordinate with other players when forming your character concept. Your characters could have something in common already; perhaps they are relatives, or travelers from the same village, or maybe they met each other during a different adventure in their backstory. You might discuss mechanical aspects with the other players, creating characters whose combat abilities complement each other. In the latter case, it can be helpful for a party to include characters who deal damage, characters who can absorb damage, and characters who can heal and support their allies. However, Pathfinder's classes include a lot of choices, and there are many options for building each type of character, so don't let these broad categories restrict your decisions.

Character Sheet

Once you’ve developed your character’s concept, jot down a few sentences summarizing your ideas under the Notes section on the third page of your character sheet. Record any of the details you’ve already decided, such as your character’s name, on the appropriate lines on the first page.

Step 2: Start Building Attribute Modifiers

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At this point, you need to start building your character's attribute modifiers. See the overview of attribute modifiers on page 19 for more information about these important aspects of your character and an overview of the process.

Your character's attribute modifiers each start at +0, and as you select your ancestry, background, and class, you'll apply attribute boosts, which increase a modifier by 1, and attribute flaws, which decrease a modifier by 1. At this point, just note a +0 in each attribute modifier and familiarize yourself with the rules for attribute boosts and flaws on page 19. This is also a good time to identify which attribute modifiers will be most important to your character; for instance, if you want to play a dashing and nimble archer, you might want to focus on a character with a high Dexterity attribute (to ensure they're good with ranged weapons) who also has a bit of Charisma (to fast-talk the authorities if they get caught). See The Six Attribute Modifiers on page 19 and the class summaries on page 21 for more information.

Step 3: Select an Ancestry

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Select an ancestry for your character. The ancestry summaries on page 20 provide an overview of Pathfinder's core ancestry options, and each is fully detailed in Chapter 2. Ancestry determines your character's size, Speed, and languages, and contributes to their Hit Points. Each also grants attribute boosts and attribute flaws to represent the ancestry's basic capabilities.

You'll make four decisions when you select your character's ancestry:
  • Pick the ancestry itself.
  • Select a heritage from those available within that ancestry, further defining the traits your character was born with.
  • Assign any free attribute boosts and decide if you are taking any voluntary flaws.
  • Choose an ancestry feat, representing an ability your hero learned at an early age.

Character Sheet

Write your character’s ancestry and heritage in the appropriate space at the top of your character sheet’s first page. Adjust your attribute modifiers, adding 1 to an attribute modifier if you gained an attribute boost from your ancestry, and subtracting 1 from an attribute modifier if you gained an attribute flaw from your ancestry. Note the number of Hit Points your character gains from their ancestry—you’ll add more to this number later. Finally, in the appropriate spaces, record your character’s size, Speed, and languages. If your character’s ancestry provides them with special abilities, write them in the appropriate spaces, such as darkvision in the Senses section on the first page and innate spells on the fourth page. Write the ancestry feat you selected in the Ancestry Feat section on your character sheet’s second page.

Alternate Ancesty Boosts

The attribute boosts and flaws listed in each ancestry represent general trends or help guide players to create the kinds of characters from that ancestry most likely to pursue the life of an adventurer. However, ancestries aren’t a monolith. You always have the option to replace your ancestry’s listed attribute boosts and attribute flaws entirely and instead select two free attribute boosts when creating your character.

Optional: Voluntary Flaws

Sometimes, it’s fun to play a character with a major flaw regardless of your ancestry. You can elect to take additional attribute flaws when applying the attribute boosts and attribute flaws from your ancestry. This is purely for roleplaying a highly flawed character, and you should consult with the rest of your group if you plan to do this! You can’t apply more than one flaw to any single attribute modifier.

Step 4: Pick a Background

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Your character's background might represent their upbringing, an aptitude they've been honing since their youth, or another aspect of their life before they became an adventurer. Character backgrounds appear in Chapter 2, starting on page 84. They typically provide two attribute boosts (one that can be applied to either of two specific attribute modifiers, and one that is free), training in a specific skill, training in a Lore skill, and a specific skill feat.

Character Sheet

Record your character’s background in the space at the top of the first page of your character sheet. Adjust your attribute modifiers, adding 1 to an attribute modifier if you gained an attribute boost from your background. Record the skill feat the background provides in the Skill Feat section of your character sheet’s second page. On the first page, check the “T” box next to the name of the specific skill and for one Lore skill to indicate your character is trained, then write the name of the Lore skill granted by your background.

Step 5: Choose a Class

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At this point, you need to decide your character's class. A class gives your character access to a suite of heroic abilities, determines how effectively they fight, and governs how easily they can shake off or avoid certain harmful effects. Each class is fully detailed in Chapter 3, but the summaries on page 21 provide an overview of each.

You don't need to write down all of your character's class features yet. You simply need to know which class you want to play, which determines the attribute modifiers that will be most important for your character.

Character Sheet

Write your character’s class in the space at the top of the first page of your character sheet, then write “1” in the Level box to indicate that your character is 1st level. Next to the attribute modifiers, note the class’s key attribute modifier, and add 1 to that attribute modifier from the attribute boost the class provides. Don’t worry about recording the rest of your character’s class features and abilities yet—you’ll handle that in Step 7.

Step 6: Finish Attribute Modifiers

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Now that you've made the main mechanical choices about your character, it's time to finalize their attribute modifiers. Do these two things:
  • First, make sure you've applied all the attribute boosts and attribute flaws you've noted in previous steps (from your ancestry, background, and class).
  • Then, apply four free attribute boosts to your character's attribute modifiers. Choose a different attribute modifier for each and increase that attribute modifier by 1.
Remember that each attribute boost adds 1 to the base modifier of +0, and each attribute flaw subtracts 1. You should have no attribute modifier lower than -1 or higher than +4.

Character Sheet

Write your character’s starting attribute modifiers in the box provided for each on the first page.

Step 7: Record Class Details

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Now, record all the benefits and class features that your character receives from the class you've chosen. While you've already noted your key attribute modifier, you'll want to be sure to record the following class features:
  • To determine your character's total starting Hit Points, add together the number of Hit Points your character gains from their ancestry (chosen in Step 3) and the number of Hit Points they gain from their class.
  • The Initial Proficiencies section of your class entry indicates your character's starting proficiency ranks in a number of areas. Choose which skills your character is trained in and record those, along with the ones set by your class. If your class would make you trained in a skill you're already trained in (typically due to your background), you can select another skill to become trained in.
  • See the class advancement table in your class entry to learn the class features your character gains at 1st level. You already chose an ancestry, background, and free attribute boosts, but these are listed in the table as a reminder. Some class features require you to make additional choices, such as selecting spells.

Character Sheet

Write your character’s total Hit Points on the first page of your character sheet. Use the proficiency fields (the boxes marked “T,” “E,” “M,” and “L”) on your character sheet to record your character’s initial proficiencies in Perception, saving throws, and the skills granted by their class; mark “T” if your character is trained, or “E” if your character is an expert. Indicate which additional skills you chose for your character to be trained in by marking the “T” proficiency box for each skill you selected. Likewise, record your character’s armor proficiencies in the Armor Class section at the top of the first page and their weapon proficiencies at the bottom of the first page. Record all other class feats and abilities on the second page. Don’t worry yet about finalizing any values for your character’s statistics—you’ll handle that in Step 9.

Step 8: Buy Equipment

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At 1st level, your character has 15 gold pieces (150 silver pieces) to spend on armor, weapons, and other basic equipment. Your character's class lists the types of weapons and armor with which they are trained (or better!). Their weapons determine how much damage they deal in combat, and their armor influences their Armor Class; these calculations are covered in more detail in Step 10.

You'll also want equipment like rope, torches, and other traveling gear, and maybe even an alchemical healing item or two if you get into a pinch. For more on the available equipment and how much it costs, see Chapter 6—there are even starting loadouts listed for each class on page 268 for quicker selection and to give you a sense of what items and equipment certain classes prioritize.

Character Sheet

Once you’ve spent your character’s starting wealth, calculate any remaining gp, sp, and cp they might still have and write those amounts in the Inventory section on the second page. Record your character’s weapons in the Melee Strikes and Ranged Strikes sections of the first page, depending on the weapon, and the rest of their equipment in the Inventory section on the second page. You’ll calculate specific numbers for melee Strikes and ranged Strikes with the weapons in Step 9 and for AC when wearing that armor in Step 10.

Step 9: Calculate Modifiers

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With most of the big decisions for your character made, it's time to calculate the modifiers for each of the following statistics. If your proficiency rank for a statistic is trained, expert, master, or legendary, your bonus equals your character's level plus another number based on the rank (2, 4, 6, and 8, respectively). If your character is untrained, your proficiency bonus is +0.

Spells and Spellcasting

Many characters can learn a few cantrips or focus spells, but the bard, cleric, druid, witch, and wizard all gain spellcasting—the ability to cast a wide variety of spells. If your character’s class grants spells, you should take time during Step 7 to learn about the spells they know and how to cast them. The fourth page of the character sheet provides space to note your character’s magic tradition and their proficiency rank for their spell attack modifier and spell DC. It also gives space to record the spells in your character’s repertoire or spellbook. Each class determines how and which spells a character can cast, but the spells themselves and detailed rules for spellcasting are located in Chapter 7.

Perception

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Your character's Perception modifier measures how alert they are and is equal to their proficiency bonus in Perception plus their Wisdom modifier. See page 404 for more details.

Saving Throws

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For each kind of saving throw, add your character's Fortitude, Reflex, or Will proficiency bonus (as appropriate) plus the attribute modifier associated with that kind of saving throw. For Fortitude saving throws, use your character's Constitution modifier. For Reflex saving throws, use your character's Dexterity modifier. For Will saving throws, use your character's Wisdom modifier. Then add in any bonuses or penalties from abilities, feats, or items that always apply (but not modifiers, bonuses, or penalties that apply only in certain situations). Record this number on the line for that saving throw.

Melee Strikes and Ranged Strikes

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Next to where you've written your character's melee and ranged weapons, calculate the modifier to Strike with each weapon and how much damage that Strike deals. The modifier for a Strike is equal to your character's proficiency bonus with the weapon plus an attribute modifier (usually Strength for melee Strikes and Dexterity for ranged Strikes). You also add any item bonus from the weapon and any other permanent bonuses or penalties. You also need to calculate how much damage each weapon's Strike deals. Melee weapons usually add your character's Strength modifier to damage rolls, while ranged weapons might add some or all of your character's Strength modifier, depending on the weapon's traits. See the weapon entries in Chapter 6 for more information.

Skills

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In the second box to the right of each skill on your character sheet, there's an abbreviation to remind you of the attribute modifier for that skill. For each skill in which your character is trained, add your proficiency bonus for that skill (typically +3 for a 1st-level character) to the indicated attribute's modifier, as well as any other applicable bonuses and penalties, to determine the total modifier for that skill. For skills your character is untrained in, use the same method, but your proficiency bonus is +0.

Character Sheet

For Perception and saving throws, write your proficiency bonus and the appropriate attribute modifier in the boxes provided, then record the total modifier in the large space. Record the proficiency bonuses, attribute modifiers, and total modifiers for your melee Strikes and ranged Strikes in the box after the name of each weapon, and record the damage for each, along with the traits for that attack. For skills, record the attribute modifier and proficiency bonus in the appropriate box for each skill, and then write the total skill modifiers in the spaces to the left. If your character has any modifiers, bonuses, or penalties from feats or abilities that always apply, add them into the total modifiers. For ones that apply only in certain situations, note them next to the total modifiers.

Step 10: Finishing Details

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Now add the following details to your character sheet. There are boxes for edicts and anathema, deity, age, and gender and pronouns on page 3 of the character sheet.

Edicts and Anathema

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You can choose to take on edicts and anathema to reinforce your character's beliefs and guide how they'd react in certain situations. Edicts are behaviors your personal philosophy or code encourages. Anathema are the opposite: actions contrary to your point of view and violations of your personal code. For example, you might declare that you follow an edict to keep detailed records of any dungeon you explore, or you might consider it anathema to refuse to help a friend in need.

For most characters, these are entirely optional, though it's best to consider taking some on as you create your character to hone in on how they think. If you follow a deity, you might take inspiration from the edicts and anathema listed for them on pages 35–39. Ancestry entries list edicts and anathema prevalent among their societies.

Required Edicts and Anathema

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Certain classes have anathema tied to them; for example, a cleric gains the edicts and anathema of their deity. Violating these can cause you to lose some class abilities until you atone or make amends, as described in the class.

Changing Edicts and Anathema

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Edicts and anathema can change during play as a character's beliefs evolve, or as you realize that your character's actions reflect a different set of values than you once thought. In most cases, you can just change a relevant edict or anathema and continue playing.

Deity

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Write down the deity your character worships, if any. Clerics must worship a deity. See pages 35–39 for more about Pathfinder's deities.

Age

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Decide your character's age and note it on the third page of the character sheet. The description for your character's ancestry in Chapter 2 gives some guidance on the age ranges of members of that ancestry. Beyond that, you can play a character of whatever age you like. There aren't any mechanical adjustments to your character for being particularly old, but you might want to take it into account when considering your starting attribute modifiers and future advancement. Particularly young characters can change the tone of some of the game's threats, so it's recommended that characters are at least young adults.

Gender and Pronouns

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Characters of all genders are equally likely to become adventurers. Record your character's gender, if applicable, and their pronouns on the third page of the character sheet.

Class DC

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A class DC sets the difficulty for certain abilities granted by your character's class. This DC equals 10 plus their proficiency bonus for their class DC (typically +3 for most 1st-level characters) plus the modifier for the class's key attribute modifier.

Hero Points

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Your character usually begins each game session with 1 Hero Point, and you can gain additional Hero Points during sessions by performing heroic deeds or devising clever strategies. Your character can use Hero Points to gain certain benefits, such as staving off death or rerolling a d20. See page 413 for more about Hero Points.

Armor Class (AC)

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Your character's Armor Class represents how difficult they are to hit in combat. To calculate your AC, add 10 plus your character's Dexterity modifier (up to their armor's Dexterity modifier cap; page 271), plus their proficiency bonus with their armor, plus their armor's item bonus to AC and any other permanent bonuses and penalties.

Bulk

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Your character's maximum Bulk determines how much weight they can comfortably carry. If they're carrying a total amount of Bulk that exceeds 5 plus their Strength modifier, they are encumbered. A character can't carry a total amount of Bulk that exceeds 10 plus their Strength modifier. The Bulk your character is carrying equals the sum of all of their items; keep in mind that 10 light items make up 1 Bulk. You can find out more about Bulk in Chapter 6.

Sample Character

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This step-by-step example illustrates the process of creating a Pathfinder character.

Steps 1 and 2

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Adam is making his first Pathfinder character. After talking about it with the rest of the group, he's decided to make a dwarf druid. After jotting down a few ideas, he begins by writing down a +0 for each attribute modifier.

Step 3

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Adam looks up the dwarf entry in Chapter 2. He records the attribute boosts to his Constitution and Wisdom modifiers (bringing both up to +1). He also applies the attribute flaw to his Charisma, dropping it to –1. For his free attribute boost, he chooses Dexterity to boost his defenses, raising it to +1 as well. He also records the 10 Hit Points the ancestry gives him. Next, he returns to his character sheet to record the size, Speed, language, and darkvision ability he gets from being a dwarf. Finally, he decides on a heritage, writing “rock dwarf” next to dwarf, and he picks an ancestry feat, deciding on Rock Runner, to show his character’s strong connection to stone.

Step 4

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Looking through the backgrounds, Adam likes the idea of a solitary dwarven druid, and the nomad background makes for a good choice. For the first attribute boost granted by the background, Adam chooses Wisdom, and for the free attribute boost, he chooses Constitution, taking both up to +2. On the second page, he writes “Assurance (Survival)” in the Skill Feats area, on the Background line. Finally, returning to the first page, he writes “cave” next to the first Lore skill entry and checks the box under the “T” for that skill and Survival.

Step 5

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Adam writes “druid” on the class line of his character sheet and fills in the number 1 in the level box. The druid class grants an attribute boost to its key attribute, which is Wisdom, so Adam’s character has his Wisdom raised to +3.

Step 6

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Adam applies four more attribute boosts to determine his starting attribute modifiers. After giving it some thought, he applies them to Wisdom (raising it to +4), since that’s the most important attribute modifier for his class, and to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution (raising them to +1, +2, and +3, respectively) to make him better in combat. He then writes his final attribute modifiers down on his character sheet.

Step 7

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As Adam applies his class, he has a number of things to figure out. First, he starts by recording all of his initial proficiencies, marking the appropriate boxes in the Armor Class, Saving Throws, Weapon Proficiencies, Spell Attack Modifier, and Spell DC areas of his sheet. Turning to skills, he marks Nature as trained and notes that once he picks his druid order, he'll become trained in another skill determined by that order. He then gets to choose two more skills (if he had a higher Intelligence, he would have gotten more). He decides on Athletics and Medicine, marking both of them as trained. Next, he adds the 8 Hit Points from the druid class and his Constitution modifier of +3 to the 10 Hit Points from his dwarf ancestry for an impressive 21 total Hit Points.

Moving on to class features, Adam chooses the Animal Empathy feat from voice of nature and marks that and the Shield Block feat in the bonus feats area. He makes note of the anathema for being a druid and records Wildsong in his language section. Next, he looks through the druid orders and decides upon the untamed order, which gives him his final trained skill (Intimidation), the ability to cast untamed shift, and the Untamed Form feat, which lets him cast a focus spell to turn into an animal. He writes these spells in the focus spell area of his character sheet. Because he has two focus spells, he notes that he has 2 Focus Points to use to cast these spells.

Finally, a druid can cast a limited number of primal spells. Although he can change them every morning, Adam is curious, and he turns to Chapter 7: Spells to decide what spells he might cast. He jots down five cantrips and two 1st-rank spells and marks them as prepared.

Step 8

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Next up, Adam turns to Chapter 6: Equipment. He’s trained in medium armor and chooses hide armor. For weapons, he decides on a spear, but he buys two just in case he wants to throw the first one. He writes all of these on the front of his character sheet. Adam lists the spear under both melee Strikes and ranged Strikes, and he also writes the claws he gains from untamed shift under his melee Strikes, because he’s sure that he’ll be casting that spell a lot. He records the rest of his gear in the Inventory section on the second page, along with any currency left over after buying his starting gear.

Step 9

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Adam records all of the attribute modifiers for Perception, saving throws, Strikes, and skills. He then puts a "+3" in the box marked Prof to indicate his proficiency bonus for each statistic he’s trained in (1 for his level, plus 2 for being trained) and "+5" in any that he is an expert. Then, he adds up his modifiers for each statistic.

Step 10

Source Player Core pg. 28 2.0
Finally, Adam fills out the final details of his character, calculating his AC and Bulk limits. Last but not least, he fills in some last-minute information about his character and decides on a name. Gar the dwarf druid is ready for his first adventure!